Planetary Society Statement on Alan Stern's Resignation from NASA

The Planetary Society issues the following statement on Alan Stern’s resignation from NASA:

"We are sorry to learn of Alan Stern’s resignation from his position as NASA Associate Administrator for Science. During his tenure, Alan made significant changes that have helped restore the importance of science in NASA’s mission. This was especially true in the 2009 budget proposal, which included two overdue Earth science missions and an outer planets flagship mission. He also worked to un-do the separation that had occurred between science and exploration in previous years, and redirected the Mars program to focus on Mars sample return."

"We appreciated these initiatives and complimented Dr. Stern in our recent congressional statement. At the same time, he was working under extraordinarily difficult budget constraints, dealing with many issues beyond his control. We wish him the best in his future work."